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A deputy assistant secretary of defense under former President Bill Clinton, Campbell also pulled in $25,000 from Lockheed Martin for one 2008 speech and $10,000 from Goldman Sachs for another. And he earned less than $2,500 in royalties last year for another book he published through Brookings called “The Nuclear Tipping Point.”

“Difficult Transitions” was published before Obama’s victory. While it doesn’t single out specific Bush policies worth keeping or delve into how Obama’s campaign trail foreign policy rhetoric aligns with geopolitical realities, it does point out that both Obama and his Republican rival John McCain distanced themselves from a wide range of Bush administration policies.

“Expectations have been raised that an Obama administration would bring a substantial departure from current policies on a whole range of issues, such as the treatment of detainees, climate change and the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Steinberg and Campbell wrote.

Obama has already parted ways with Bush’s policies on those issues and others.

A State Department spokesman declined to elaborate on the hypotheses in “Difficult Transitions.” And Campbell is “not doing interviews,” according to a spokesman for the Center for a New American Security.

Their book also proffers another provocative suggestion — that the uncertainty of the new administration makes it likely the 44th president will be tested early on the foreign policy and security fronts, possibly by terrorist attack. “For terrorist groups in particular, targeting the early months of a new administration might be particularly appealing given their interest in the politics of disruption as well as destruction,” the pair write

During the campaign, now-Vice President Joe Biden raised eyebrows with a similar yet more precise prediction.

“Mark my words,” Biden proclaimed at a Seattle fundraiser in October. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. ... Watch, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

Juvenile hackers have taken over the Democratic Party website and mailing list.

A bogus fundraiser to “Send Cheney Packing” deposits funds into a PayPal account belonging a 15 year old boy whose name has been withheld. It is unclear how many teens participated in the scam.

The site was hacked sometime last week. A webpage accepting funds appeared on Saturday and a fundraising email campaign was sent to everyone on the DNC email list.

The email showed DNC executive director Jen O’Malley Dillon as the sender with the subject line “Send Cheney Packing.” Dillon advised members to delete and report the email which read in part:

Have you ever had a guest who overstayed his welcome and wondered, “why is he still here?”

After some of his recent interviews, former Vice President Cheney has shown that he clearly doesn’t know when to pack it in.

In just the last week, he’s gone on national television in an effort to tear down President Obama’s agenda — saying the President’s economic programs will be “devastating to our society” and that his foreign policy makes us seem “weak” to the rest of the world.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for him to stop sniping from the sidelines and let President Obama usher in the changes Americans demanded after eight years of Cheney’s disastrous policies. That’s why I want Cheney to go back home to Wyoming, and why I want you to help me get him there.

Will you help pay for Cheney’s bus fare? A one-way ticket from Washington, DC to Jackson, WY costs $202 — will you chip in to help us buy one for him?

Dillon said the DNC “would never initiate or participate in anything this childish and offensive.” “Most of our members knew it was a hoax,” she added. Dillon declined comment when asked for the number of transactions processed on the website.

Once again, we see that Obama is just not in any way the "radical" the Republicans portray him to be. Not at all. I think that in many ways, he's a lot more sympathetic to Republicans and conservative Democrats than he ever was to his own base--which is to say the people who got him the nomination. When I look at most of his appointments, I hardly see any who could be called radical, progressive or even liberal--certainly none at State, Treasury or Defense. I hardly expect to see much that is new or innovative in those places.

As I said many times, Obama's political instincts run toward centrism, reason, compromise and moderation, but he has just found himself in an extreme situation, without being an extremist himself.

Hmm, reversing policies. I see how well that worked for George "Chimpie" Bush with North Korea, Iran, Palestine, and the list goes on. My assumption is that when you follow a disaster like the Bush administration, reversing policies looks a lot more sensible.

Probably good advice, I know that we got into trouble before when we sided with people that we abruptly abandoned with a change in administration, the Kurds come to mind here.

It's got to be a bit of a concern to our allies where our loyalties will lie everytime there is an election, who will want to be on the side of someone who changes their mind midstream with disconcerting regularity?

Looks like Hitler in Chief is at it again. This time his new Regulation Czar nominee (Obama has more Czars than the Soviet Union) would like to regulate internet speach. Just read what this whacko is all about.

It is good advice. Too bad Barry and co. aren't going to take it. because despite #3's disclaimer Barry is a radical, most of the people around him are of similar bent and the hard left in and out of government is going to drive him. And the rest of us will pay for both his inexperience and his desire for "change". And all the apologist in the world trying to make Mr. Obama appear a centrist, reasonable or capable will not be able to change that one fact.

Once again, we see that Obama is just not in any way the "radical" the Republicans portray him to be.

Where you get this idea, I have no idea. The article is about the opinions of a potential nominee, not the president. Take off the rose-colored glasses...the universe does not revolve around Obama (believe it or not).